Ostapenko beats Krejcikova to win the Birmingham Classic title

Jelena Ostapenko edged past Czech Barbora Krejcikova 7-6 (8), 6-4 to win the Birmingham Classic title in a closely-fought encounter between two former Grand Slam champions.

Both players have achieved their biggest accomplishments on clay, but they proved their grass-court pedigree in a high-quality encounter in Birmingham’s showpiece event.

A tight and entertaining final in Birmingham

It was a story of power against guile, with Ostapenko’s ferocious hitting ultimately proving too much for Krejcikova, who did well to disrupt the Latvian’s rhythm with her variety of shot-making before the Czech’s resistance finally broke in a gripping first set tiebreak.

The second set also went the way of Ostapenko, who saw a 5-1 lead cut to 5-4 as Krejcikova staged a late fightback. But the 2017 French Open champion was able to serve out the match at the second time of asking, closing out the victory with a final fierce forehand winner.

“Just to fight for every single point, and to play until the very last point, because some matches I was down, but I managed to win them,” Ostapenko said during her on-court interview.

“I’m just really proud of myself the way I fought. That’s probably the key which brought me the title here.”

Ostapenko and Krejcikova both looking good for Wimbledon

Krejcikova leaves empty-handed after a promising week. In the previous rounds of the Birmingham tournament, Krejcikova, ranked No 12, beat Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa (6-3, 6-3), qualifier Tereza Martincova (6-4, 6-4), Linda Fruhvirtova (6-3, 6-2) and Chinese Lin Zhu (6-3, 6-2).

Typically most effective on hard and clay courts, Krejcikova will have gained a huge amount of confidence from her week in Birmingham.

Ostapenko, meanwhile, had a superb week as she defeated Czech Linda Noskova (6-2, 5-7, 6-1), American wildcard Venus Williams (6-3, 5-7, 6-3), Pole qualifier Magdalena Frech (4-6, 7-5, 6-2) and Russian Anastasia Potapova, the No 4 seed (5-7, 6-2, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

The Latvian will be a real threat at Wimbledon when the Championships get under way in one week’s time.

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